North Korean kick-off

Have you been following the story about North Korea and its attempts to recover on its reinsurance contracts? Well, my old lot have now issued proceedings in the Commercial Court on behalf of the Korean National Insurance Corporation (KNIC) for recovery of the cash, according to this report on Fox News (yes, I wouldn’t normally report something from them, but they’re the only ones carrying the story as yet).

In brief,
> In a complaint filed last week in the commercial section of Britain’s High Court of Justice, lawyers representing the state-owned monopoly Korean National Insurance Corporation (KNIC) have sued a group of international insurance firms, led by a subsidiary of German insurance giant Allianz Group, for more than $57 million. The lawsuit charges that the insurers have failed to pay reinsurance claims on a North Korean helicopter accident in 2005 that crashed and destroyed a Pyongyang warehouse containing emergency relief goods, even after being ordered to do so by a North Korean court.

Clydes are on for the reinsurers, and it’s pleasing to note that Elbornes have apparently threatened them with a libel action for suggesting that KNIC may have been acting in a not un-fraudulent fashion. Way to go, Tim and Tim. Or possibly Tim. Or is that ‘Kim‘? (the ubiquity of Elbornes’ Tims is matched only by the ubiquity of North Korean Kims…).

According to the report “an attorney representing the North Koreans expected that a British judgement could come “in early spring,” perhaps in April“, so I presume they’re going for summary judgment. Somehow, one suspects that that might be an uphill struggle, but as Montaigne said: Que scays-je?

Anyway, I hope they’ve all got the DVD of Team America. Gosh, yeah!